The big crowd that packed into Duffus Park, Cupar, on Saturday certainly weren’t there because they anticipated a contest.
Yes, Howe of Fife, third in the RBS Championship, were playing second- placed Musselburgh, one of only two sides to beat them this season. But at Duffus, it’s rarely anything but a landslide for the home team, and the “Howe, Howe, Howe” post-try chant of the stand echoes at least six or seven times a game.
On Saturday it was nine times, as Howe obliterated Burgh 58-20, running their average home scoreline in the league this season to 62-12. Take in the away games, it still averages out to 46-13.
Yet despite this orgy of scoring the best in the league, coupled with the best defensive record as well if things work out as seems likely, Howe are somehow going to be denied the title by one point.
Jed-Forest, the other in the trio of teams that have dominated this division, have that slim advantage by virtue of beating Musselburgh away and if both they and Howe win by maximums for the rest of the season, it’ll be Jed’s title.
The only time Howe failed to get a bonus at Duffus this year was when they beat Jed, and it looks like that could be crucial.
“We just have to hope that someone can take a point off them,” said Howe head coach Garry Horne, in the knowledge that Kirkcaldy had failed to do so on Saturday. “It’s frustrating, because in our two losses in the league this season we weren’t allowed to play at pace, and today shows what happens when a referee stops the opposition illegally slowing us down.”
Two yellow cards by Charles Samson to Musselburgh forwards in the first half set that tone, although it took a little while for the deluge to occur with the teams turning at 20-13, Burgh’s only try coming from an 80 metre breakaway after a set move by Howe had gone awry.
Steeled to have a bit more composure in the half-time huddle, the match was swiftly put away with four tries in the third quarter.
Rory Drummond, the former wing converted to a back-row forward, smashed aside tacklers regularly for four tries, running his total for the season to a club record 22, but there’s a fair bit of wit about him as well as sheer pace and power.
For the first try, he grabbed the ball when Howe were awarded a kickable penalty, tapped as the Burgh defenders turned their backs and bashed his way in from 20 metres.
“You’ve got to be a bit greedy, don’t you?” said Drummond when it was pointed out how often he backed himself to get to the line no matter how many defenders are in front of him.
But he was modest enough to admit that his change to the forwards was “still a work in progress.”
His coach described Drummond as “a poacher, if he was in soccer. But he’s delivering with tries and he’s certainly some weapon to have”.
Andy McLean, the former record holder for tries SRU vice president Ian Rankin claims he held the record before McLean made a scoring return from injury as did Iain Wilson, who also rejoined Howe from Dundee HSFP this season but suffered a pre-season knee injury.
Wilson is usually a back row forward, but played on the wing to ease him back. Howe players tend to be interchangeable in terms of positions because their technique is so good, witness the way what looked like an underpowered scrummage shoved Burgh’s pack off their ball time and again.
The only disappointment is that they may fall short. With a big and growing support, a home-grown team and a youths system second-to-none, with fundraising well advanced to turn the stand into a community sports hub, the potential for Howe in a higher league is considerable.
“We proved in our two cup games against Dundee and Aberdeen this last fortnight that we are already more than capable of competing in a higher league,” said Horne. “The only thing now is to get there.”